Saturday, January 23, 2010

Rays 12th Round Pick Suffers "Serious Injuries" In Car Crash

Andrew Bellatti, the Rays 12th round draft pick in the 2009 draft, was seriously injured in a head-on car crash Friday afternoon. Bellatti's passenger and the passenger in the other car were also seriously injured. The driver of the other car was pronounced dead at the scene.

The crash occured in Spring Valley, CA, near Steele Canyon High School, where Bellatti graduated last year. It is reported the two seriously injured passengers are students at the school.

The California Highway Patrol says all the injuries are considered major but not life-threatening. There was no indication that Bellatti had been racing, or that drugs or alcohol were a factor in the accident.

Here is a link to a local story. Warning, the pictures (especially the video) and description are troubling.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved. We will update you as more information becomes available.

[Update at 5:45]: The deceased driver of the other car has been named as David Norman Reid, age 50. His 17 year-old son, who was in the passenger seat, underwent surgery today.

Bellatti and his 17 year-old female passenger are reported as released from the hospital today.

5 comments:

yes he was the cause. I live in that area, it is a small country town with winding roads and virtually NO passing lane. It is a 2-lane road not a highway with speed limit that ranges from 35mph to 50 mph. This kid decided to pass on a double line road at 80+ and selfishly killed someone. What is worse he was sober and made the stupid decision to drive recklessly and killed this poor man and destroyed not only the man and his family's life, but his own as well.

unfortunatly for you people you believe everything the news says..... so if you really believe some nosense like that you people need some help. i know exactly what happend and 8o+ passing someone ya i really doubt that ha. so you guys can have as much fun as you want to with the news lies! ha ha you people make me laugh

I specifically tried to only post what was being reliably reported, not any speculation. I also didn't feel this was an appropriate time to discuss where he pitched last year, his stats, his prospect status, etc. A tragic accident such as this, to me, trumps all that.

I have yet to see an article about this anywhere that doesn't at least mention where he pitched in '09. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back here, but why does it matter? I'm sure mentioning that he's a professional baseball player is designed to incite anger at some "privileged" kid with too many toys and "he thinks he's better than everyone" crap.

Come on. A 12th rounder, playing in the Gulf Coast League? I know most people don't know what that means, they think rich kid with a sense of entitlement.

But why go there? He's an 18 year-old, who according to the California Highway Patrol, is at fault for causing a car accident that killed a beloved member of the community and injured himself and 2 others. Isn't that enough?

If you read the comments on some of the articles, many of which are now closed/deleted, you'll see what I mean. Just Google News his name. The inclusion of the "pro baseball player" brought out lots of hatred. I guess that's what the media wants.

To me, what happened, and will certainly happen in the future in criminal and civil courts, is bad enough. Why do they have to stir the pot?

Maybe I'm making to much of what I've seen elsewhere (not so much here, we've certainly had no apologists). But if you want to hate him for what happened -> fine. But blaming it on him being a pro baseball player -> BS.